Forty years behind the wheel of a school bus simply went by too fast.

That's how Carolyn Bill of Brandon sums up her four-decade career as a school bus driver that was born out of a simple conversation with her then 2-year-old son.

The 77-year-old hadn't intended to give up her familiar No. 9 route this school year, but a bout with pneumonia in early November, followed by reactions from medications, forced her to end a career she truly loved.

"I enjoyed it, and I already miss the kids," she said just a few weeks after her last run.

Fellow bus driver Gene Standish said Bill has hauled three generations of families during the course of her career.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20091212/NEWS/912120307/1001/news

The Alabama Department of Education responded to the NTSB investigation into the 2006 Huntsville school bus crash by reminding local school systems to impose severe penalties upon school bus drivers who fail to wear their seat belts.

http://stnonline.com/home/latest-news/1620-alabama-schools-urged-to-closely-monitor-driver-seat-belt-usage

A total of four recalls were announced for multiple Thomas Built Buses models with problems related to adjustable brake pedal arms, under-torqued fasteners, accelerator pedals and brake lines. NHTSA Campaign IDs 09V461000, 09V458000, 09V462000 and 09V460000 were all announced on Wednesday, possibly affecting a total of over 15,000 vehicles model years 2006 to 2011.

http://stnonline.com/home/top-stories/1581-thomas-built-buses-recalls-multiple-models

The Pennyslvania Association of School Business Officials commissioned the study this past spring to determine data on special needs transportation, as the segment was underrepresented in an overall school transportation benchmark study performed in 2008. And it has some pretty staggering results.

Of the average $2.5 million per year total cost for transportation services, special needs routes alone ate up one-quarter of the expenditures. And those routes only served, again on average, about 111 students to over 20 locations, two-third of which were outside of district boundaries. This equated to the overall cost of $5,374 per special needs student transported, five times more than the overall average cost per student transported in that a 2008 benchmark study found. States the report:

http://stnonline.com/blogs/special-needs-rides/1569-getting-ones-hands-around-the-high-costs-of-transporting-disabled-students

Failure to conduct a post-trip bus inspection can result in the driver’s permit being suspended for three years by the Illinois Secretary of State. The previous code required each school district to implement a post-trip inspection policy that mandated a school bus driver inspect the bus at the conclusion of each route, work shift or work day. But there was no specific penalty for failing to perform the inspection.

The new law is effective immediately.

“The safety of our children is of paramount importance to the people of Illinois,” said Governor Quinn. “This new law prevents children from being left unattended on a school bus and also ensures that bus drivers receive important information while on the road.”

The communications portion of the revised law, Public Act 096-0818, requires all school buses be equipped with two-way radio systems designed to alert drivers to messages or alerts from school district, school bus company or emergency service dispatchers. Drivers are also required to test radios before their bus can be operated, and they are not allowed to use the radios while driving the bus or face a fine of $100 to $250 if convicted.

http://stnonline.com/home/latest-news/1535-new-illinois-law-requires-school-bus-drivers-to-check-for-sleeping-students-use-two-way-radios

MAYPEARL (November 3, 2009)--All 13 operational school buses in the Maypearl School District were found with at least one tire slashed Monday and a bank is offering a reward leading for information about the vandal or vandals.

The replacement cost could be as much as $4,000.

Maypearl Independent School District Superintendent Lynn Dehart wants to know who is responsible for the damage and why.

The tires were replaced in time for students to be transported as usual Monday afternoon in Maypearl, a town of about 950 north of Hillsboro.

The vandalism was discovered Monday morning and forced families to find alternate transportation for their children.

The Cowboy Bank of Texas in Maypearl is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the tire slasher.

Maypearl is located 40 miles southwest of Dallas.

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/68865212.html

GAFFNEY, S.C. — Exemplifying one of its numerous efforts to become an environmentally friendly company, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. (FCCC) has achieved Zero Waste to Landfill status.

FCCC, which builds the chassis for the Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 school bus, went from disposing 250,000 pounds per month of solid waste in 2007 to disposing zero pounds last month as a result of environmental efforts implemented at its facility.

The Zero Waste to Landfill directive was initiated by Daimler AG to reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing facilities under the Daimler umbrella. FCCC’s manufacturing facility was chosen as the pilot site for the Zero Waste to Landfill program by FCCC parent company Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA). The goal of the program was for the FCCC facility to become 100 percent landfill waste-free by 2010.

“Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. easily surpassed our corporate goal by realizing Zero Waste to Landfill status three months earlier than our original January 2010 target date,” said Roger Nielsen, chief operating officer of DTNA. “FCCC was able to achieve these results by the continued efforts and diligence of all employees within the company, and we continue to seek ways to reduce our environmental impact in our facility and through our products and alternative-fuel efforts.”

http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/

Research into alternative energy transportation is moving forward at the University of Delaware. School officials showed off the latest addition to UD's transportation fleet in Wilmington Monday. It's the school's second zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus that's now in use transporting students around the Newark campus.

Director of UD's Center for Fuel Cell Research Ajay Prasad says there are plans for two more hydrogen busses by 2011 and more re-fueling stations in the near future, one in Wilmington and one in Dover. "At this point, they're only running on campus, but we are working hard with DART and Delaware Transit Corporation to extend operations into the city of Wilmington, Dover, and other cities.

By: Mark Eichmann
meichmann@whyy.org

Ron French / The Detroit News

Lansing -- State budget cuts are forcing some school districts to decide if they'll stop running buses as soon as Nov. 2, when the legally required Michigan State Police inspection program ends.

Michigan State Police informed school administrators by letter this week that all 11 state school bus inspectors will be laid off as of Oct. 31. Without certification from inspectors, school districts cannot legally operate buses.

The letter advised districts with school buses due for certification to seek the advice of their attorneys. Buses that have been inspected can be operated until their next inspection a year later. "Where does that leave school districts?" said Jackie Washegesic, director of transportation for South Haven Public Schools, who attended a brainstorming session Wednesday with Michigan State Police and Department of Education officials. "We've been put in a place where we have to decide between the liability of violating a law, and the responsibility of transporting children to school."

The law may be amended quickly to make bus inspections voluntary, said Rep. Richard LeBlanc, D-Westland.

"It's not a good thing, but it's a budget reality," LeBlanc said. "I'm not sure there are viable alternatives."

The Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Division is responsible for inspecting and certifying the safety of the state's 17,544 school buses each year. The funding for the program is part of the K-12 school aid budget. That budget, approved by the Legislature without money for the inspections and signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week, eliminated funding for the $1.4 million program.

The inspectors received layoff notices last Friday, said Capt. Robert Powers, commanding officer of the motor carrier division.

"We have not received funding to continue the inspection program after Oct. 1," Powers said. "All I've been able to tell (school districts) is even though we are mandated by state law to inspect school buses, without funding, we're unable to do so after October."

After that, school districts will be in a Catch-22. Certification is required from the State Police to operate buses, but the MSP won't do inspections.

Even newly purchased school buses can't be turned over to districts without an initial inspection.

"It puts schools in a liability situation," said Karen Losch, executive director of the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation. "I have some school districts meeting with their school boards to decide what to do."

Novi Community School District operates 29 buses driving 420,000 miles a year. Gail Credit, assistant superintendent for business operations at Novi, said she is confident in the safety of the district's buses, but she is concerned schools will be stuck with another unfunded mandate.

"I am concerned this will fall back on us," Credit said. "We have many mandates that are not funded."

Dennis Gregory, manager of operations for Southfield Public Schools, said he believes the State Police are required to inspect buses whether the inspections are funded or not. "It's a law," Gregory said. "They have to find the money somewhere."

Cutting out school bus inspections "really does point to the economic distress we're in," LeBlanc said. "It's $1.4 million; that's almost insignificant in a $40 billion budget, but the money simply is not there."

That would be a shame, Southfield's Gregory said. "We will continue to service our buses in Southfield to make sure they are the safest buses on the road. But ... it was a benefit to everybody that a third party did inspections. We're talking about the safety of our children."

rfrench@detnews.com (313) 222-2175

Data published by the Kansas State Department of Education indicate that there have been several student fatalities in bus loading and unloading zones at schools in recent years.

According to the latest National School Bus Loading & Unloading Survey, from 2004 to 2007, one fatality occurred while students were unloading from buses in the morning, and one fatality occurred while students were boarding buses in the afternoon.

This year, SCHOOL BUS FLEET has learned of two fatal bus drop-off accidents at schools. In January, pre-kindergartner Jameer Woodley was crossing his school's parking lot in Courtland, Va., after disembarking his bus when he was struck by another bus. The Southampton County Sheriff's Office investigated the accident.

The second bus had completed its unloading, and the driver received a signal that the area was clear. The driver pulled the bus out of its parking space and made a right turn into the travel lane of the parking lot. Woodley was crossing the travel lane when he was struck by the bus.

The following month, fourth-grader Christopher Beltz left his bus in the parking lot at Spring Mill Elementary School in Indianapolis' Washington Township. A lieutenant for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a news conference that when Beltz ran out of his bus, he darted between a row of cars parked between where he was dropped off and the school building. There was also a bus there that had just dropped off another student at the curb. As that bus was leaving, Beltz ran in front of it.

These fatalities show that industry officials must remain vigilant and employ every means at their disposal to maintain student safety in bus loading zones to prevent accidents.

"I think the event in Washington Township serves as a reminder that just because you've done your process for umpteen years, it deserves evaluation for the potential of improvement," says Pete Baxter, school transportation director at the Indiana Department of Education (DOE).

Southampton County Public Schools (SCPS) and Metropolitan School District of Washington Township (MSDWT) officials recognized this in the wake of the accidents on their school campuses this year and have changed their loading zone policies.

Pupil transportation industry professionals have numerous suggestions for how to maximize student safety in loading zones, and many practices have been implemented at operations around the country.

______________________________________________________________________

Pupil transportation professionals agree that analyzing the traffic flow in and around loading zones and separating school buses from other types of traffic are excellent ways to prevent loading zone fatalities.

"Take a step back and look at the design of the loading zone," says Kathy Furneaux, executive director of Syracuse, N.Y.-based Pupil Transportation Safety Institute. "When you have a big melting pot of traffic, it really becomes problematic because of the blind spots around a bus."

Furneaux says separating traffic to increase safety does not always involve a major overhaul. She was recently asked by officials at a school in Liberty, N.Y., to evaluate their loading zone because they were having problems with traffic.

"It was as simple as moving a section of a parking lot over and putting in another lane," Furneaux reveals.

Ted Finlayson-Schueler, president of Safety Rules!, in Syracuse, N.Y., says that one of the best ways to analyze loading zones is to start before the buses arrive and continue until all stragglers have left. He recommends videotaping the process from a location where the entire area can be seen (the school rooftop, for instance) so that each vehicle's movement can be studied.

He also suggests getting a map of the school property and noting all of its entrances as well as parking lot/street entrances and identifying where each group (school buses, parents in their personal vehicles, school staff, students who walk to school, etc.) is currently accessing the building and its surrounding area.

Like Furneaux, Finlayson-Schueler encourages separating each class of traffic. This can be accomplished with space or time. "If parents are not let onto the school grounds in the afternoon until the buses have left, you have two loading zones separated by time instead of one that is dangerous and congested," Finlayson-Schueler explains. "In the same way, driving staff and students can be held in their parking lots until the buses are released, creating space for the buses to leave without having to share the roadway."

http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/Channel/School-Bus-Safety/Articles/2009/10/Approaches-to-Protect-Students-in-Loading-Zones.aspx

By Sarah Cormier
C & G Staff Writer

MOUNT CLEMENS — A strike by local bus drivers seeking a wage increase ended 24 hours after it began, allowing busing services for the Mount Clemens Community Schools district to resume as usual on Nov. 11.

According to Jim Cynowa, assistant steward with the union, First Student offered the drivers a raise between 65 cents and 70 cents per hour, with retroactive pay back to the beginning of this school year. The strikers voted 23-4 to approve.

“Naturally we would have liked to have gotten more, but I think versus people being out (for the holidays) … it was probably the right thing to do,” said Cynowa, who added that the regular drivers went back to work the next day.

“I thought it was a decent proposal and we ought to accept it,” he said.

Maureen Richmond, spokesperson for First Student, wouldn’t discuss the settlement, but did say that an agreement had been reached.

At around 1:15 p.m. on Nov. 9, employees of First Student, Inc., a school bus transportation company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, decided to picket. The Mount Clemens Community Schools district depends on the company for its busing services.

Kim Brans, local steward for Teamsters Local 614, the union that represents the drivers, said that it has been over a year since the workers have received a raise. She said that the employees decided to strike after attempted negotiations continued to go nowhere. Members of the union would like a $1 hourly increase in wage, said Brans, who added that employees don’t receive benefits.

“A buck would satisfy us all and we’d put the signs down and go pick up the kids,” she said while out picketing outside of the bus garage located on Eldredge in Mount Clemens on Nov. 10.

The timing of the strike was less than desirable, as the bus drivers had dropped off MCCS students that morning, but then began picketing before it was time to pick them up, leaving many students without a ride home from class that first day.

“Unbeknownst to me some negotiations process had broken down and the bus drivers got the students to school, but about an hour before school was dismissed, many of the drivers had walked off of the job,” said MCCS Superintendent Charles Muncatchy.

First Student was able to round up some bus drivers at the last minute to transport the students that still needed a ride home; however, district staff also had to make phone calls to contact parents in the areas where not enough bus drivers were available.

“Staff did a great job communicating with families and everyone arrived home safely,” said Muncatchy,

While the strike continued on, representatives from First Student got more replacement drivers from other divisions in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan to come in and learn the 19 different Mount Clemens routes in a day so that full bus service could be provided on Nov. 11.

However, the service was not needed because around 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 10, an agreement was reached between First Student and the union.

“It was very important to come to an agreement on the contract — period,” said Richmond, adding that First Student’s goal is always to provide safe, reliable bus transportation for students. “We wanted to do that as quickly as possible.”

http://www.candgnews.com/Homepage-Articles/2009/11-11-09/MCCS-bus-strike.asp

October 17th, 2009

An Illinois bus driver was suspended for a day without pay after he showed up to work wearing a pink tie in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
man wearing pink tie for breast cancer

William "Bill" Jones, 46, who has been a bus driver in the Springfield Mass Transit District for nine years, served his suspension, but said he will file a formal grievance, according to the State Journal Register.

Jones said he wore the tie on the first Friday of the month as a way to recognize close family members who had battled the deadly disease.

"It represents the women of my family who have fallen to breast cancer and cancer itself," Jones said. "And to all women across this country who have either fallen from the disease or who have survived. That's basically what it's for."

While SMTD managing director Linda Tisdale didn't comment specifically about Jones' case, she did say that employees are expected to show up to work wearing their uniform.

"Any time there is a deviation from the uniform, the employee must ask in advance," Tisdale said. "We've tended to work with them on these occasions. It's approved in advance so any deviation can be open up to all the operators."

Ironically enough, Jones' violation has now led to the mass transit district approving of employees wearing pink on Fridays in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

-MYFOX News:

"Manjit Singh, a 59-year-old from Leicester, attached a clamp to his thick ponytail and bore the pain of pulling a seven ton vintage routemaster 21.2 metres through Battersea Park to set a new world record and celebrate Guinness World Record day.

After the event he said: "It was painful, but it was worth it. I could only think about my legs and head and keeping on going to set a record, to go as far as I could."

He said that there was no training he could do to prepare for the event and he had no special regime for his unbreakable hair. "I just use shampoo, like the kind you can get in any pound shop up and down the country," he laughed.

The motivation to attempt the bizarre record came from his failure to pull a similar bus attached only to his ears two years ago. The father of four said: "My children think it's great, they think I'm a real star now."

The bus pull was just one of the records attempted around the world to celebrate Guinness World Records day. In London people attempted the world's biggest group hug, in Northern Ireland people attempted the world's biggest human domino fall and in Texas people attempted the world's biggest simultaneous lassoing. "

-Telegraph.co.uk

Here is the perfect reason to advertize your bus from your area on our web site. There is someone near you who wants to buy a bus, but does not want to come to our lot in Indiana to buy it. They only need to know that there is a bus, within a reasonable driving distance from them. Please read the following testimonial from the first school to list a bus for sale on our new web site and the results that they received.

Dear Mr. Halbert: Our Educational Foundation was looking to sell a used school bus in January, and we placed an ad with your service. We were somewhat hesitant at first about posting an ad with a national listing; we figured that no one from California or even the Midwest was going to drive all the way to New Jersey to purchas a used school bus. We were pleasantly surprised, however, when we sold the bus within about two weeks of posting the ad on Bus Mart Inc. Com Someone from Philadelphia saw the posting and realized we were only a few hours away from them. They came to inspect the bus and a sale was made. Thanks again for a terrific service. Sincerely, James Heinegg Saddle Brook Educational Foundation

SpanisH (ESPANOL) Help Has Arrived: Contacto: Karen Martinez 760-672-6354 Karenmartinez@yahoo.com

Attention Public Schools, Contractors and Private Owners, .... now at last you do not need to sell your used school buses to the few buyers who have contacted you to notify them when you have buses for sale. Now it is easy to advertise your used school bus "to the world" via the internet. Then just notify any interested buyers who have previously contacted you, by telling them that your equipment is up for bid at www.busmartinc.com For a very modest fee, you can place your bus on our web site and maximize your potential sales by expanding your market to dealers, private bus contractors, churches, clubs, and all foreign countries who are looking for used buses.

To our knowledge, we are the only web site that allows anyone and everyone to sell buses and buses only. We don't sell cars, trucks, motorcycles, wash machines, farm tractors, etc. Thus, when internet searchers click on busmartinc.com, they are only there to look for a bus to meet their transportation needs. From the first day of January 2007 when we launched this new web site, our daily page views have grown exponentially to over 500 per day or over 3,500 per week. Therefore, one can see that busmartinc.com is the place to advertise your used surplus buses either as an auction item, or at a designated price.

We will be glad to assist you in selling your used bus in any way that we can. It is relatively easy to list your equipment and download your pictures, or for an additional fee, you can e-mail your pictures, or mail your pictures to our office, and we will list the buses for you. We are advertised on the nation's most popular search engines, Google and Yahoo, where you will be assured of having your equipment viewed over and over. We hope that you will feel free to share this web site with fellow school superintendents and transporation directors that all might be able to participate. Iin the best way that we know of, we will let the world know that you just might have the bus that will fit the need of a transportation provider.

Thanks for viewing! Ron Halbert, Pres.

We have gotten several inquiries inquiries as follows: "Does the bus run?" "Can it be driven home?" Please note: Bus Mart Inc. has been here now for 32 years. We don't sell buses that don't run and would not sell you a bus that runs poorly or had a serious problem, if known, unless we stated that to you in advance. Furthermore, with the good diesel engines of today, we have only had one engine failure when delivering buses all over the U.S.A. for 20 years. In the case of the one engine failure, the customer did not bear the burden, we took the bus back and gave them an upgrade of a better bus at no cost to them. Buses that are placed up for bid on our web site by others, are not our responsibility, and you are on your own when buying from an advertiser. We (Bus Mart Inc.) have a name and a reputation to honor and to protect and honesty is the only policy. Unfortunately, most people today probably have never heard of the Golden Rule and cannot quote it.

Many day cares and churches are looking for non-CDL buses that seat 15 or less. Yes, we do have some; one that might work for you. E-mail me your need and I will e-mail you back what we have in stock. We find that they are pretty hard to find, due to the great demand.

ATTENTION: Those who are looking for air conditioned buses, we do have some. We are not able to list the fact that they do have A/C on the View Buses display page and you would have to examine each bus by opening up each bus on each page to search for A/C, very time consuming! Presently we have two 1999 IHC handicap buses, that if we removed the WC lift and fully seated them, they would seat about 48 to 54, if you wanted them for greatest capacity: We have 5 1997 IHC 12 to 36 passenger conventionals depending upon whether or not you want the lifts or to be fully seated, , 2 1999 small cutaways, 1 2000 small cutaway, and a 1995 42 pass handicap conventional bus. One of the nicest is our 2000 MVP 48 passenger adult, high back seating, overhead luggage racks with front and rear air. Updated 1/28/07 Will add two more handicap buses this week with A/C. Thankfully they are becoming more prevelant. IF YOU NEED AC, MAYBE THE BEST THING WOULD BE JUST TO CALL AND TALK TO US DIRECTLY AND WE CAN TELL YOU WHAT WE HAVE IN STOCK WITH AC, OR WE CAN TELL YOU HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST TO ADD IT. THANKS, RON

2/21/07 Just received two 27-54 Passenger 1996 IHC with AC and two 1999's and one 1998 16 passenger, low mileage Ford, Power Stroke Diesel with AC